Rate allocation for Multihop routing in anonymous networking

Abstract

This work investigates Multi-hop routing for single destination mix networks; mixes are routers or proxy servers that use layered encryption, delaying, and packet reordering to provide source anonymity to packets that arrive at a common destination. In this work, the optimal rate allocation across multiple paths that maximizes anonymity under fixed delay requirements on individual mixes is investigated analytically. In particular, it is shown that in the high traffic regime, the maximum anonymity is achievable independent of the rate allocation. In the light traffic regime, there exists a unique path for each source node such that the overall anonymity is maximized. When the desired quality of service is expressed as a weighted sum of the anonymity and the end to end delay a low complexity algorithm is proposed to derive the optimal rate allocation under light traffic to maximize the weighted reward.